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p. 48 · Read in the full issue
War Graves Units Complete Difficult Job in N.G.
From a Special Correspondent Lae, October 7.
SCARCELY any Army personnel now remain on the .mainland of the former Mandated Territory of New Guinea. Last week the 7th and 29th War Graves Unit arrived here from Wewak, but all but two members are expected to move on again in a few days.
They printed the last issue of their weekly paper, “Mat Mat Mutter,” on October I—they have been running it sinnce the beginning of this year when they went to Wewak.
The lads of the units have had an un pleasant task in exhuming the bodies of their fallen comrades and bringing them for reinterment at Lae; and, it is re ported, they have not been happy in their relationship with Civil Administra tion, who have done little to assist in the work.
One of the mysteries of the present set-up in New Guinea is the non-co-oper ation (and sometimes downright antag onism) between different services and branches of services which, in the ulti mate analysis, spring from the Canberra fount.
Some people here in the Territory wonder why it has been necessary to go on with this grisly business of transfer ring soldiers’ remains from one spot to another. There is a feeling that the place where a British soldier falls be comes hallowed ground. However, as someone with a passion for regimenta tion has decreed that all bodies in Nor thern New Guinea are to be gathered into one cemetery, all help for the War Graves units should be forthcoming from other Governmental bodies.
When the units left Wewak, they brought with them the remains of over a thousand bodies, and it was only after great difficulty and delay that they were loaded on the ship for transportation to Lae.
It can be understood that no native was particularly keen to do this work and the District Officer, these days, has no power to allocate labour. All depends upon the all-powerful “District Labour Officer,” and unfortunately the loading of the remains from pontoons at Wewak seems to have clashed with the sacred week-end break. The remains were finally got on board when the men of the unit recruited local labour, independ ently.